Intersupported disk for furnace conveyers



'Sept 22,-` 1931. F. A. AFAHRENWALD 15,824,470

INTERSUPPORTED DISK FOR FURNACE `CONVEYERS Filed Dec. 1o, 1.930

35 In my application Serialv No.

Patented Sept. 22, 1931 FRANK `A.rAHiamvWA-LD, `or. cHIceGaILLINoIs IN'rEasUrroRTED msx ron URNACE coNvEYERs This invention relates to conveyers for heat treating furnacesiand has for its object to provide aconstruction of disk-likek work supporting unit which -may be advantageously made of highl vtemperature alloy by foundry methods; will be peculiarly adapted for mounting uponfa supporting shaft; will have a minimum of temperature influence upon the workpieces which it supports; and '10 will more effectively withstand stresses induced by the high temperatures `encountered wheninuse.` Y

In my Patent No. 1,780,010, issued October 28, 1930, for furnace conveyerl disk, l have disclosed as one embodiment of the invention covered thereby, a sheet conveyingl disk comprising arim member mounted on asupport, such as a furnace shaft, through the medium of a web-like member which extends yfrom one end of the rim member inwardly to the shaft,vwhere'it is deflected in the di-rection of the length of the shaft to providea hub-like member 'through the medium` .of which the disk enters into bearingfupon the shaft; the effectbeingtoconnect the rim member and the hubv member'endto end through the` medium of thejw'eb member with special advantages in 'foundry produc-y tion and in service of the unit, especially when the three said members retain approximately uniform thickness, `and still more .especially wherev the lWeb member extends .from one end of the rimlmember to the op'- posite end of the hub member.

333,543, filed January 19, 1929, now PatentNo. 1,814,082, issued July 14, 1931, of which thepresent application forms a continuation win part,.`I havevdisclosed a conveyer unit for heat-{treat- 40 ment furnaces having a hub for supporting it upon a shaft at a 'material distance from the shaft, a workpiece supporting rim of greater'diameter thansaid hub, and a web uniting the rim.,k and the. hub fhavinga radialsection which ,e-Xtendsindirectly between the hub vand the the said' section, in 'the illustrative embodiment emv ployed, being concavo-conveXg-in form; and

I have also described in'v my `said applica: 4tion Serial No. 333,543'acircumferentially continuous lspacing flange at one end of and forming Vin effect an intermediate extension of the hub asa means yfor entering thehub Y into'bearing upon a shaft.V Said hub-spacing member, howevenis noty claimed in my said applicationbutfis `being claimed herein, for which reasonmy present application con- 'stitutes arcontinuation in part ofk my said application .Serial No; 333,543. l In constructing by foundry'niethods, from high temperature alloys, the disk-like units employedV for supporting ysheets or other workpieces passing through heat treatment furnaces, it -is important to provide a design Vof structure that will lminimize'checking and o ther imperfections, as well 1 as `undesirable internal stresses in the supporting unit,both

at; thetime'ofca'sting and atk timesiwhen the unit encountersthe hightemperatures vof, the

`furnace treatment.l For these' reasons, a de# Y signfisbad which involvesstr'aight radial Yp ortions'of*the structure merging abruptly Yinto* 'cylindrical or other lportionsV approximately perpendicular thereto, or radialportions merging Jabruptly l withv the cylindrical j or approximately*cylindrical portion alting 4lines intermediate of itsfends. Such designs tdevelop' bad stresses `under heatjexp'a'nsion land cause a large percentage offaillres in casting as wellas a shortening ofjthelife of the unit `in use. Substantial 'variations' in dimensions of vthe ysections'of the Vintegrally united `members also.' contributeto; undesirable results. 1

. The present invention proceeds'y upon the principle of producing a conveyer unit ofthe type in which the workesupporting rim Vis mtnmted uponits supporting shaft through the medium of a web andl a hub spaced from the shaft, by having the rim,`the`web, the hub and the spacingmember all united endto end through, portions'which make' each member virtually a deflected continuation of the member or Vmembersv tolwhich itis connecte'dat` their ends, without ,abruptness' in the turns,

enti ally7 except for ,su/Ach' op enings as may .be desirable in 'lightening the metal; "the'unitL vthereby produced having, When bearing the hub, with a longitudinal flare "or taper or othervvise making the internal dimensions of the open end suiciently greater than the eX- ternal dimensions of the closed endto. admit the closed end of one unit Within theopen end of the adjacent unit- Without materially-V interfering WithV the nonfab-rupt deflection through which one member is continued into on merged with. the othernieniber atgboth the. opened. and vClosed. ends of the unit.

' fllieinturned spacing 'web that is circumferentially continuousfin the sense herein indicated, lends itselfwith peculiar advantage to the establishment of conveniently releaeabledriving Connection between the diskunit and the supportingv shaft, for instance, by entering a notched portion of the spacing @ange into. alongitudinally. channeled key onthe Shaft and inserting, behind the flange, pin readily releasable when it beoolnesf necessary to. displace. the disk.

,In the accompanying drawings, in. which WO .QmbQ-.lnts of the Yinvention are 'shown bfwnyoiillustration- "'Egiire. l representeV a; portion of a Conveyor allait. intendedfornse in aheattreattornate. and upon.- Wbioh. are mounted .Several disks designed-- in aooordanoe r'vitb one, embodiment. of. the invention, namely, an-

einbodianent'in. which the hub. .members are iared. or tapered suf.oientlyVl to admit ofinterengagementzthrongh teleeoofpng action Witlaontolifsetting' the meeting parts, the and' a portion of theshaf't being in axial seeti-on` l Figurey 2 .isy a section Yon the .linef2.2m of Eign'r'el.,v with the disk in an intermediate positionfof driving interlock assembly.` r y Figure isa detail view showing comple-l tion of; ,rotary interlock movement initiated in.'Ifisairea.` e

Figure 4 is a detail'vieu7 of therneans" for establishing rotary andv longitudinal interloek between the` spacing member of the unit andthe'shaft; and i F'gure 5, isaview corresponding tol Figure l, showing a modified construction of. the

, supnortingunits. 1 n Y and 2,41 represents L portionA In. Elgaresl -olta furnace shaft upon which are mounted al desired number of disk-like supporting' units Units 2'oo1nprise rim; Ifnembers 3 adaptedI t o receive.fa workpiece, such as a sheensubyected to-'heat treatment, hub` members-Which are.` larger in internal diano.-

eter than the externalfd-.iameter ofthe shaftV Ja Webs 5,. eaoh of Whiohextendsfrom one end ,ot.thern1 3 to the orroSiteendfoiLt-lie hub 4 and merges With said rim and hub through portions 6 and 7 which in effect constitute deflected continuations of the members connected; and each hub member 4 enters into bearing upon the sha-ft l through the medium of a spacing flange 8 which constitutes an intnrned c, ntinuationof the hub 4.a t its end opposite the end which received the web 5.

Y Spacing flange S merges With hub 4 through a portion 9 Which in effect is a curved continuation of the hub. and therefore a nonabrupt deflection of the part. Rim 3, Web 5, hub 4 and-'spacing flange 8, as Well as the curved deliections 6, 7 and 9, preferably are Vapproximately uniform in thickness, and each of an adjacent unit-,telescopically, and leave f the unitsfsome freedom of relative expansion both aXially and radially. An advantage inf `cidentto this 'method of rendering thefunits Vtelescopically intersupportirngYisv that the snugness; 0f th/e'lit can selected by determining vthe extent offtelesc'opic movement.,

' InFigure ,gtlfie hub. 4aV and the curved de.- flectio-ns 7 a and 9a through Whichcit merges with the web and the Vspewing flange, are

SOHlWh-tdfferently designed, the main ,body

of the hub, ,being substantially cylindrical and theourved .deieotonea or, merging por.- -tion'sfbeing offset radialgly Vs uliicientlyjtoad;- init the .closed end .ofa disk Within the open end ofVY ank adjacent disk.

- In ord-er to establishdriving connectionbe.- tween thelspa'cing' flange of the unit. and the shaft. upon which-thellnit is. mounted, and at the sametime.preventilongitudinal dis: placement, of. a uponl the shaft, the shaftis Vprovided With .a key l() slotted in the. direction transverse to. the axis. of the shaft,

and the flange Sis'provided with ashoiildered notch l1 which adapts, it tok enterY the slot of the key and by partial rotation yof the disk, While in an intermediate position over the keyI` yinterlock therewith, and Vbe secured against unlocking by the insertion of a Cotter pin 12, Y

' As shown in Figures 1- and 5, the last disk unit applied to the-shaft may have its open end supported by. a ring 13'.

An. important novel condition derived from the construction of disk units in accordance with the present inventiomis that the spac- Ving members 8 through which the hub members. are interlocked VWith the shaft, may,

when desired, be made circumferentially. continuons and thereby develop. substantially .tight closuresbetweenthe.y h ubs and ,the Shaft- The spacing members which afford the inter-` supportbetween the anchoring end of the* disk member and the telescoping open endof an adjacent disk member, provide closures for the open ends of saidadjacent disk members as well asfo-r the anchoring ends of theirown disk members. In this way, the series of Y y mounted on said shaft; said disk comprising' rim, web and hub members together with a member for spacing the hub from and sup -porting it upon the shaft; said members being integrally united end to end as substantial continuatioiis one of another without ab-y rupt deflections between them; the hub member including a portion, spaced from the shaft, of material length in the direction of the axis Of the shaft; and the spacing and supporting member being at one end of said hub member and the web member being at the other lend thereof.

2. A heat treatment furnace conveyer scribed in claim l, in which the rim, web and hub members are substantially continuous circumferentially.

3. A heat treatment furnace having a conveyer comprising a shaft having a plurality of disks constructed as defined in claim 1, and in which the end of the hub member with which the web meinberis vconnected to one disk is spaced from the shaft a distance sufficientto receive within it the hub spacing and supporting member of an adjacent disk.

4. A heat treatment furnace as described in claim 1, having a conveyer comprising a shaft having mounted upon it a plurality of disks constructed as described in said claim, and in which those ends of the hubs which are connected to the web of thedisk are spaced upon the shaft a distance sufficient to receive. Within them the spacing and supporting` means of adjacent hubs, and each hub spac-k ing and supporting means is fixed to the shaft so that the length of the hubs defines the longitudinal spacing between the rims of the disks.

5. In a furnacefconveyer, a disk-shaped Work-supporting unit comprising a rim member, a hub member, a web member uniting said rim member and hub member end to end through portions forming deflected continuations of the connected members, and an inturned supporting member at the end vof the hub remotefrm the web'member Vthe-internal dirriensions ofthe-hub member, at'tlie end whichzreceivesthe web member, being suffi,-V ciently; greater than its eiztern'aldimensions at tlieend which kreceives the spacing mem-A b er to permit the units to .assume inter-supf` are vcoaiially assembled.

porting@relation when ase'ries of said units 6. "In` aV conveyer for heattreatmentv fur# nac'es'of the type in whichconveyer units are E mounted up'cna shaft, a conveyer unit includingin its construction a hub having an internal diameter materially greater than the external'diaineter of the shaft upon which it is to' be mounted, thereby developing a space between ythe liuband the shaft, and a spacing member-extending inwardly from the hub to naces, the combination of a shaft, and a plurality of conveyer units mounted on said shaft, each including in its construction an elongated hub having an internal diameter greater than the external diameter of the shaft; each unit having at one end an end closing and spacing'member through which it enters into bearing upon the shaft, and having its other end inter-supported through theV medium of the closed end of the adjacent unit; theend closing and spacing members comprisingV circumferentially .continuing Walls. y y

8. In a conveyer for heat treatment furnaces of the type in which a plurality of conveyer units are mountedupon a shaft, a conveyer unit including in its construction an elongated hub having an internal diameter greater than the external diameter of the shaft upon which itis to be mounted, and.- having at vone end a circumferentially continuous inturned fiange for spacing the hub from the shaft andV closing the space between the hub and the shaft against the convection of air.

9. In a coiiveyer for heat treatment furnaces of the type in which a plurality of conveyer units are mounted upon a shaft, a conveyer unit including in its construction an elongated hub having an internal diameter greater than the external diameterof the shaft upon which it is to be mounted, and having'at one end a circuinferentially continuous inturned flange for spacing theV hub from the shaft and closing the space be- -1 tween the-'hub andthe shaft against the con- 10. In combination with the'shaft ofi, a

4 Y l mgmt@ heilt t1?eiatmeritrfurnttce,` it plurality Qf- @Qn- Ye-ell untiseach havin-g .ndpendent Sup# porting and` dri-ving connectQnwitht the shztfb'atfone; kend of the uni-t and having v support atthe other-end of the u-nvtmthrough. i themedum 'of the driving and supporting 111921135; Qiithe next adjacentunt; each u nit n Comprising a hub member of materially' gteater diameterT than the shaft upon which it isgnounted, and; a 'mngerextendng inwardly from 011x@ end- 0f saidfhubmember; Said flange Supporting the, unitwth an, intervening insulation space between the. unit and the; shaft.; and Said Hang@ Carrying the means through Whisllthe unit iS independently Y. dlgven angl bei-11gl circumferentally continuous t-Ofol'man @nfl ClQSlure for the DSula-tQn Signed; at (D lltago` Heights, Illinois, this u '1515 day ofDecQv, 1930.

2 Y FRANK-@ EAHRENWALD 

